Supreme Court president Chanchai Likhitjitta chairs a meeting yesterday of the court’s judges from across the country to seek a breakthrough in the current political predicament.

The Democrat Party yesterday asked the Central Administrative Court to nullify the April 2 general election on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.

In a separate case, three lawyers presented a citizens' petition asking the Supreme Administrative Court to cancel the Royal Decree for the April 2 election.

The trio - Nitithorn Lumlua, Nakhon Chompoochat and Pairoj Pholphet - chose to litigate as individuals rather than involve their professional group, the Law Society of Thailand.

They argued for the decree's cancellation on the grounds that it was wrongfully enacted.

Under the Constitution and election law, the Election Commission (EC) is required to make a collective decision to schedule the election day, but the government consulted only EC chairman Vasana Puemlarp before enacting the Royal Decree, the lawyers said in their petition.

Because of the initial errors in calling the snap election, the ensuing electoral process was plagued by many flaws, which undermined the credibility of the election's outcome, they said.

Key flaws included the lack of voter privacy while marking their ballots, the overwhelming number of abstentions and invalid votes and the alleged fraud involving members of smaller parties being bribed to contest the poll.

The election outcome failed to represent the people's mandate as evidenced by the fact that in many constituencies there were more "no votes" cast than there were votes for the winners, the petition said.

Meanwhile, in the name of all three former opposition parties, Democrat deputy secretary-general Thaworn Senneam and deputy party leader Withaya Kaewparadai brought two separate cases to the Central Administrative Court.

The first case asks the court to rule on whether the Royal Decree to dissolve the House of Representatives was constitutional and whether the snap election held 37 days after the dissolution was called in a manner fair to political parties other than the ruling Thai Rak Thai Party.

The second case accuses caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of violating the Constitution by proposing the decree to dissolve the House under circumstances not stated in the charter.

The Democrats were also acting for the Chat Thai and Mahachon parties, Thaworn said.

They argue that the reason given for dissolving the House - the possibility of riots triggered by anti-government protesters - didn't make sense as the situation was not caused by a conflict between the legislature and the administration.

Thaworn said the petition also mentions alleged unfairness by the EC in holding the general election and further rounds of voting in an attempt to fill all 500 seats in the Lower House.

It alleges that one of the EC's members was absent from the meeting at which the snap poll was scheduled, and the decision was made despite the lack of a quorum. Therefore the decision should be regarded as not legally binding, the petition said.

The Democrats asked for urgent consideration of their case in the hope that a possible decision might benefit today's meeting of presidents from the Constitution, Supreme and Administrative courts. The meeting is a response to advice from His Majesty the King, who suggested on Tuesday that the courts try to find legal solutions to the country's political confusion.

However, there was no decision from the Central Administrative Court yesterday.

Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said the petition was filed so the court could consider the matters. A court cannot raise an issue without first having a complaint or petition.

"Now, the court will consider the petition," he said. "We are waiting for the ruling and are ready to cooperate with the ruling."

The Democrat, Chat Thai and Mahachon parties boycotted the April 2 election. However, they say if the April 2 poll is nullified and a new election is called, they will rejoin the electoral process.